Japan With Adi
Lost wallets come back with the cash inside, there are almost no public dustbins, shops run on trust, trains are silent, and food labels have no veg mark. What to expect, and what to do.
Leave your laptop on a café table in India and go to the washroom, and you might come back to a nasty surprise. In Japan, people leave their MacBook on the table for half an hour and it's exactly where they left it.
Some things in Japan feel almost unreal to us, but they're completely normal there. Here are five, from my own life as a student in Japan.
1. Lost things come back to you 👛
One morning I was rushing to school on my bike and didn't notice my AirPods had fallen out. On the way back I retraced my route, sure a car had run them over or someone had picked them up.
When I reached the spot, someone had placed them carefully on a flower pot beside the walking lane, set on a little stand. Not a single scratch.
Another time, a friend dropped his wallet while we were walking. A Japanese man came running after us to hand it back. And once at a metro station, my coin purse opened and coins went everywhere. Everyone in the queue behind me started picking them up and handing them back.
At cafés after school, I'd see laptops, iPhones and wallets left on tables while people went to the washroom. Nobody touches them. People respect other people's things and space.
2. Almost no public dustbins, and almost no litter 🗑️
You'll rarely find a public dustbin in Japan. Yet the streets are spotless. How?
- People carry their rubbish home. It's one of Japan's many unspoken rules. I picked up the habit there, and I still do it in India.
- Why so few bins? Many public bins were removed after the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, for security, and carrying your own rubbish became the norm.
- Some convenience stores (konbini) have bins, for their customers.
At home, waste sorting is strict. Most homes separate burnable, non-burnable, plastic packaging, PET bottles, cans, and paper and cardboard, each collected on its own day. It takes getting used to, but it's a big reason Japan stays so clean.
3. Shops that run on trust 🥬
In the countryside you'll find unattended vegetable stands: no shopkeeper, just fresh produce, a price for each item, and a box for the money. Take what you need, leave the money, and go. I saw them on a trip to Mount Fuji with friends. One sign read どれも200円 (dore mo nihyaku-en): "everything ¥200".
Vending machines and unstaffed shops for drinks, ramen and more run around the clock too.
It all works on trust and civic sense, and Japan has very low rates of violent crime. With more foreigners living in Japan now, please respect these systems. If the locals follow them, we should too.
4. Silent trains and public places 🚆
On trains, everyone is expected to respect each other's space. People sit quietly, read a novel or a newspaper, or look at their phones. You may have seen videos of tourists playing music or shouting on trains; that disrupts the culture.
It isn't a law. It's social etiquette. If you must take a call, cover your mouth and speak softly, or better, wait until you get off. Honestly, when I'm on a crowded train and my phone's notification sound goes off by mistake, it feels a little scary!
Great news for introverts, though.
5. No veg or non-veg mark on food 🍙
In India, packaged food has a green or red dot. Japan doesn't. Many snacks, sandwiches, chips, biscuits and ramen contain meat or meat flavouring, and nothing on the front tells you.
Once at a convenience store I was hungry and about to buy a packet of chips my friend was buying. I turned it over and found beef flavouring in the ingredients.
If you're vegetarian, learn these three kanji and check every ingredient list:
| Kanji | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 牛肉 | gyūniku | beef |
| 豚肉 | butaniku | pork |
| 鶏肉 | toriniku | chicken |
Also look for 肉 (meat) on its own, and extracts such as ポークエキス (pork extract) or チキンエキス (chicken extract).
The real Japan
What makes Japan feel different isn't strict laws. It's behaviour, culture and awareness. That's the real Japan, and the more Japanese you know, the easier it is to fit in: reading labels, signs and bin-day notices yourself.
Start with our free course and kana charts, see what student housing looks like, and read the 5 mistakes people make before going to Japan.
